Dry ice snow (also sometimes referred to as CO2 snow) is used for a variety of applications, for example in refrigeration, cooling, and freezing applications. Many of these different applications involve depositing the dry ice snow onto an object for shipping before the object is packaged, or into a package containing an object. In either instance, the dry ice snow keeps the object cold during transportation or shipping.
Many conventional applications utilize dry ice snow dispensers (such as discharge horns or devices with skirts) in fixed positions above a conveyor belt or other means for moving the object/packages. As the objects/packages pass underneath the dry ice snow dispensers, the dispensers deposit the dry ice snow onto the objects or into the packages.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,023 discloses a snow horn used in association with a conveyor belt in freezer. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,287 discloses a large hood that is used to create a large rectangular area under which dry ice snow can be deposited onto an object.
Some conventional applications utilize a canister or other chamber connected to a CO2 source to make dry ice snow. These devices allow for dry ice snow to be made and deposited into the canister or other chamber, and then manually applied onto objects, into packages, or used as needed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,679 discloses an apparatus that can be connected to a CO2 tank to produce dry ice in a bag within a canister. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,020 discloses a valve that can be placed upon a CO2 tank and used, for example, with a hose to produce dry ice snow in a container.
In contrast to those fixed discharge horns, there are known movable or hand held discharge horns. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,377 discloses a gun shaped handle to be used for a dry ice snow blasting process for cleaning The gun handle is intended to be gripped by only one hand.
While hand held devices are effective at increasing the speed and accuracy of depositing dry ice snow, since the dry ice snow is deposited directly into the intended container, it is possible that the velocity of the dry ice snow and gaseous carbon dioxide mixture is so great that the dry ice snow is blown back towards the source of same and out of the container. Thus, this can create the loss of snow (and increase production costs), as well as create other problems.
The present invention is directed to providing a device that can provide solutions to such a problem, as well as others.